Eric Althoff

CD REVIEW: David Duchovny brings uneven vocals to debut ‘Hell or Highwater’

The man who portrayed Agent Mulder and Hank Moody tries out his musical chops on this, his debut album. David Duchovny, whose vocals are spotty on the effort, gives it the old college try best with the perfectly titled "Hell or Highwater."

MAX to play Jammin’ Java in Vienna, Virginia

Wow, it's been a while since something got us off our feet this briskly. MAX will be pulling up to Jammin' Java in Vienna, Virginia, Oct. 29 for some pre-Halloween festivities. Tickets are $18 to $30 by visiting JamminJava.com.

USA Today wraps Wednesday edition in joke ‘Back to the Future’ cover

The Cubs win the World Series, cholesterol may in fact cure cancer and rehydrating pizza slices can be deadly. All of this according to the gag cover of USA Today featured prominently in a scene from the 1989 film "Back to the Future Part II," in which Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown (Christopher Lloyd) travel forward in time from 1985 in an effort to keep Marty's son (Mr. Fox in another role) from going to jail. The date of their arrival: Oct. 21, 2015.

Steep Canyon Rangers unveil Southern sounds on ‘Radio’ record

Deep Southern sounds abound on the North Carolinians' disc for Rounder records. The Rangers remind us of the wealth of sounds below the Mason-Dixon Line.

Harry Connick Jr. new album ‘That Would Be Me’ a return to musician’s form

The New Orleans crooner spins new yarns in his unique style on "That Would Be Me."

Colin Hay returns to form in album ‘Next Year People’

Colin Hay is still a man at work, as the pride of Australia aims to prove in his new album for Compass Records, "Next Year People."

CD REVIEW: Broadcaster unleashes Long Island rock on album ‘Spin EP’

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Tales of Halloween’ offers mixed bag of seasonal horrors

The blessing and the curse of the anthology film is its variety of tone and subject -- allowing for a smorgasbord of style and story from multiple filmmakers. So brace yourself, because here comes "Tales of Halloween," an anthology that offers some genuine fun set amid other tired bloody yarns as the annual costume bonanza that turns fear into sugar-coated joy is nearly upon us.

Roger Waters, Pink Floyd bassist, at Music Heals concert in D.C. to help war veterans

Roger Waters lost his father in World War II when he was all of 4 months old; his grandfather likewise died in the First World War before he was born.

Jenny & Tyler to perform at Ebenezers Coffeehouse in D.C.

Husband-and-wife tag team Jenny & Tyler (Jenny Somers and Tyler Somers) of Nashville unveil a countryfied, melodious pop sensibility on the new disc "Of This I'm Sure" for Residence Music.

Playboy to stop publishing photos of nude women

It revolutionized the sexual revolution, but Playboy magazine will stop featuring photos of nude women beginning in March, founder Hugh M. Hefner has decreed, as reported by The New York Times.

Doors guitarist Robby Krieger raises $500,000 for St. Jude’s Hospital child cancer program

To want to be a rock star requires a certain narcissism to thrust oneself unapologetically before thousands. And it likewise takes great humility to turn such star power to focus on the cause of helping others. Former Doors guitarist Robby Krieger did precisely that earlier this month at the eighth annual Scott Medlock - Robby Krieger Invitational & All-Star Concert benefiting St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Davis Guggenheim calls Malala Yousafzai courageous in new documentary

It's hard enough to imagine a teenager forgiving a playground bully, but to absolve someone who shot you in the head requires a level of grace that is almost superhuman. But that is precisely what Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, a teenage activist from Pakistan, did after a Taliban-affiliated gunman shot her and three of her friends aboard a school bus in the country's Swat valley in 2012. "The danger of film is that sometimes you make someone into this larger-than-life character, but you realize that she was an ordinary girl who was not extraordinary, but she did an extraordinary thing," said Davis Guggenheim, director of the documentary "He Named Me Malala," which opens in the District Friday.

Halsey to play D.C.’s 9:30 Club

The New Jersey artist known as Halsey explores the "Badlands" -- but not the Springsteen variety -- on this curious new disc for Astralwerks.

‘Labyrinth of Lies’ director Giulio Ricciarelli on Germany learning harsh lessons of its past

The ongoing lesson of the Holocaust has been "never forget." But what of those who, in the midst of German reconstruction following WWII, found themselves suddenly face to face with the horrors of what the Nazis had done? The new film "Labyrinth of Lies," opening Friday, tells the true tale of prosecutor Fritz Bauer (Gert Voss), who seeks to try former Nazis who not only carried out the atrocities against Europe's Jews and humanity, but also abetted in covering up their sins. "My first reaction was I didn't believe it. I said this can't be true, this story," director and co-writer Giulio Ricciarelli.

MEW returns with new album and tour

Returning after a six-year break, Denmark's pride, MEW, is back and heading for D.C. this weekend with a new album, "+ -" behind them.

Demi Lovato to release ‘Confident’ on Oct. 16

If anything, Demi Lovato is a mistress at grabbing our attention. The singer and actress, who recently posed nude and sans any makeup for Vanity Fair, is back with "Confident," a high-concept, high-energy album for Hollywood Records that shows off Miss Lovato's talent for crafting venerable synth-pop.

Patrick Wilson returning to Big Stone Gap for film premiere

They say you can never go home again, but actor Patrick Wilson has done precisely that for his new film "Big Stone Gap." "We settled there a couple hundred years ago," Mr. Wilson told The Washington Times of the eponymous town of Big Stone Gap, Virginia, where he and his brother would return for summers to visit their grandparents. A road and a bridge in town even bear his family name.

Ellen Page calls ‘Freeheld’ story crucial to gay rights movement

On June 26 the Supreme Court ruled same-sex marriage the law of the land. It was the capstone of a lengthy war and many smaller battles along the way. One of those skirmishes was fought in Ocean County, New Jersey, where, in 2004, a county police officer named Laurel Hester, dying of cancer, fought to have her pension bequeathed to her partner, Stacy Andree upon her passing. "I think that [the conversation] will just continue changing like it has," Ellen Page, the Canadian actress and Oscar-nominee for "Juno," said of the new film "Freeheld," in which she portrays Ms. Andree.

Stevie Wonder calls to conquer gun violence with love

Stevie Wonder took the opening moments of his concert at Washington, D.C.'s Verizon Center Saturday evening to call attention to the ongoing epidemic of gun violence in America, as exemplified by the mass shooting at Oregon's Umpqua Community College in the town of Roseburg last week.